MLB’s Miami Marlins add aquarium backstop to new stadium design

Pitchers and catchers reported for MLB’s spring training last month and as the regular season start nears, the Miami Marlins are opening a new baseball stadium — complete with aquarium backstop. Opening this year, the new baseball-only stadium is taking full advantage of the ocean theme to go along with the rather fishy “Marlins” name. Included in the new stadium is a pair of saltwater aquariums built as a part of the backstop.

As hobbyists we tend to get all geeked up whenever we see our passion incorporated into everyday life — from unique installations to simple desktop aquariums we love it. Sometimes these intriguing installations do raise some flags and make us question the methods behind it and the Marlins’ aquarium backstop is not free from controversy at all. PETA stood up against the installation from the get go, siting noise and crowd issues causing undue stress on the animals. Another question is being in an outdoor setting, how realistic is the maintenance going to be?

PETA may have some good points and you can see how skittish the fish are with a few people around (well consider the construction crew can be pretty loud), so you can just imagine how crazy it will be when you have 40,000 screaming, stomping and cheering fans. It will be interesting to watch this story unfold over the next few months and see how long the aquarium stays. If you are in the Miami area and can check it out, make sure to come back and share the details.

Besides the questionable use of an aquarium in the stadium, the Marlins are also not winning any points with the new logo. This new logo, color scheme and uniform choice is about as horrific as the old Tampa Bay Devil Rays design. No wonder Albert Pujols went to the Angels.